Sunbeam

GB, 1899 – 1937, 1953 to date

(1) John Marston Ltd, Wolverhampton, Staffs., 1899 – 1905

(2) Sunbeam Motor Car Co Ltd, Wolverhampton, Staffs., 1905 – 1935

(3) Sunbeam Motors Ltd, London W.11, 1936 – 1937

(4) Sunbeam-Talbot Ltd, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, 1953 – 1970

(5) Chrysler United Kingdom Ltd, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, 1970 to date

John Marston’s tinplate and japanware firm, which had been making bicycles since 1887, built its first 4hp belt-driven prototype Sunbeam car in 1899, followed by another machine with a twin-cylinder engine in 1901. The first model Sunbeam car to see series production was, however, the diamond-formation and allegedly skidproof Sunbeam-Mabley voiturette with 2¾hp De Dion engine, a number of which were sold for £130 in the 1901-1904 period. More conventional was the 12hp Sunbeam car marketed under T.C. Pullinger’s direction in 1903, which was based on a Berliet design and had a flitch-plate frame, chain drive with Sunbeam cars patent oil-bath chain cases, and a 2.4-litre 4-cylinder engine with automatic inlet valves. A 3.6-litre 6-cylinder Sunbeam car was on the market briefly in 1904, but Sunbeam cars soon progressed to Shaw-designed T-head fours, though another short-lived six Sunbeam car appeared in 1907. Sunbeam cars great years started in 1909 when Louis Coatalen joined the Sunbeam car firm from Hillman. In that season the Sunbeam car company was offering three L-head fours with chain drive, and capacities of 3.4, 4.5 and 6.3-litres, plus an odd 3.2-litre twin-cylinder Station Cart Sunbeam car. Coatalen’s first effort was a T-headed 14/18hp Sunbeam car, available with either shaft or chain drive. This Sunbeam car was followed a year later by a 2.4-litre 12/16 on similar lines, but with pressure lubrication and on overdrive gearbox, while overhead valves were tried out on a racing Sunbeam car, the Nautilus, at Brooklands in 1910. An improved 12/16 Sunbeam car of 3-litres’ capacity with monobloc engine ran in the 1911 Coupe de l’Auto race, foreshadowing an immensely successful touring development which Sunbeam car sold initially for £375. This Sunbeam car had an L-head engine and was made up to 1921. In 74bhp racing guise the Sunbeam car scored 1-2-3 victory in the 1912 Coupe de l’Auto, following this up with a 3rd place in 1913. In 1914 Sunbeam car company built Henri-inspired twin-ohc 4-cylinder racers both for the Tourist Trophy and for the French Grand Prix, and at the outbreak of World War 1 the Sunbeam car range consisted of the 12/16 in standard and sporting forms, a 4-litre 16/20 Sunbeam car of similar general design, and a 6.1-litre 6-cylinder Sunbeam car rated at 25/30hp, all offered with electric lighting. The Sunbeam car company concentrated on aero engines during the war years, though a 4.9-litre twin-ohc 6-cylinder Sunbeam ca  was sent to Indianapolis in 1916 and took 3rd place, while Rovers took over production of the 12/16 for the Flighting Services. Renamed the 16, this Sunbeam car reappeared in civilian form with full electrical equipment at £790, along with a smaller vesion of the pre-war 25/30 Sunbeam car powered by a 4½-litre engine.

The Sunbeam car company amalgamated with Talbot and Darracq in 1920 to form the STD combine, and the next five years saw an energetic racing programme of Sunbeam cars. Twin-ohc 108bhp straight-8 Sunbeam cars were made for the 3-litre formula of the immediate post-war years, followed by some unsuccessful 2-litre fours, and finally the twin-ohc 6-cylinder ‘Fiats in green paint’, designed by Bertarione, which won the French and Spanish GPs in 1923, and this Sunbeam car ran supercharged in 1924, as well as having a long and distinguished competition career in later years. Chassagne won the Tourist Trophy on a 3-litre straight-8 Sunbeam car in 1922, while one of the regular 3-litre sports Sunbeam cars finished 2nd at Le Mans in 1925. Sunbeam cars took the World’s Land Speed Record five times in the 1922-1927 period: Lee Guiness started with 133.75mph on the 350hp V12 sprint Sunbeam car, a figure which Campbell subsequently raised, first to 146mph on the 4-litre V12, a Sunbeam car which was also used for road racing, and the following year he became the first man to exceed 200mph on land with the twin-engined chain-drive 45-litre Sunbeam car. Sunbeam cars last record car, the Silver Bullet of 1930, was unsuccessful.

Touring Sunbeam carss of the 1920s were cars of great refinement if not outstanding performance. The basic 16 and 24hp types Sunbeam cars were redesigned with push-rod overhead valves in 19222, ohc sporting versions being also listed, while a more modest 2-litre 14hp Sunbeam car with unit gearbox was available at £725. Front-wheel brakes arried on the 6-cylinder 16/50 Sunbeam car in 1924, and were optional also on the 14/40 Sunbeam car which replaced the 14hp model. An impressive 3-litre 6-cylinder twin-ohc sports Sunbeam car with dry-sump engine was made in small numbers between 1925 and 1930, but the Sunbeam car was ‘too fast for its chassis’ as well as being expensive to make and buy. A big straight-8 Sunbeam car with a push-rod engine, available in 4.8-litre and 5.4-litre forms, was introduced in 1926 at prices from £1.295 up and front-wheel brakes became standard on all Sunbeam cars. All Sunbeam cars had the V-radiator by 1927, when the fours were dropped, and the standard touring sixes were the 2-litre 16hp at £550, the 2.9-litre 20hp Sunbeam car at £750, and the 3.6-litre 25hp at £950, all with plate clutches, spiral bevel final drive, and cantilever rear suspension. Thereafter Sunbeam car design changed little, and sales of Sunbeam cars declined though quality was maintained. Semi-elliptic springs were found at the rear of the smaller 1930 Sunbeam carmodels, in 1931 the Sunbeam cars acquired hydraylic brakes and radiator shutters, and the 16’s engine was enlarged to 2.2-litres. The 1932 Sunbeam cars’ silent-third gearboxes gave way to synchromesh on 1933 16 and 20hp Sunbeams. That year there was also a 2.9-litre Speed Model Sunbeam car with crash box at £745, though its main competitor was STD’s other fast tourer, the Talbot 105. The old Sunbeam car firm’s last new model was a ponderous 1.6-litre ohv four, the Sunbeam Dawn of 1934, with preselector gearbox and independent front suspension. This Sunbeam car was offered again in 1935, along with the 20, the 25, and the Speed Model, but the collapse of the STD combine brought receivership and purchased by Rootes, and an ohv Roesch-designed 4½-litre straight-8 Sunbeam car announced for 1937 never went into production. There were no Sunbeams in 1938, and when the Sunbeam-Talbot range was announced for 1939 the Sunbeam car was based on the later Rootes Talbots.

The name of Sunbeam cars did not reappear until 1953, when it was given to a sports two-seater Sunbeam car of the 2.3-litre ohv 4-cylinder Sunbeam-Talbot 90, the Sunbeam Alpine, which sold for £1.269, and this Sunbeam car collected four Coupes des Alpes in that year’s Alpine Rally, following this up with a Gold Cup (for Stirling Moss) and a Coupe des Dames (for Sheila Van Damm) in 1954. In 1955 the basic 90 saloon Sunbeam car was marketed as the Sunbeam MK III, and further laurels included the Malling/ Fadum win in that year’s Monte Carlo rally. The type Sunbeam car was listed until 1957, being joined in 1956 by a Hillman Minx-based sports saloon, the Sunbeam Rapier, with a 1.4-litre square 4-cylinder 62bhp engine, unitary construction, and overdrive as standard equipment, at £986. This Sunbeam car did well in subsequent Alpines and Monte Carlo Rallies, as well as winning its class in the 1956 Mille Miglia, and by 1958 the Sunbeam car had grown up to 1½-litres and 68bhp, acquiring a less Hillman-like grill in the process, though overdrive was now an extra. A sports two-seater Sunbeam car, another Alpine, with integral construction, was listed for 1960, and subsequent evolution was on regular Rootes lines: diaphragm clutches in 1964, with the option of automatic on the Alpine, all-synchromesh gearboxes in 1965, and 1.7-litre 5-bearing engines in 1966. 1964 brought two new developments of the basic theme Sunbeam car, an Italian-bodied Venezia sports saloon based on the Humber Sceptre, and the Tiger Sunbeam car, which was an Alpine with rack-and-pinion steering and a 4.3-litre, 164bhp Ford V8 engine, this despite the Rootes-Chrysler conncection. In 1966, the Rapier V, Alpine V, and Tiger comprised the Sunbeam car name. A 51bhp Sunbeam car-version of the Imp was available in the home market in 1967, and this Sunbeam car was followed by the more sporting Stiletto coupé for 1968.

An entirely new Rapier Sunbeam car on Hillman Hunter lines was announced for that year, its fastback styling inspired by Plymouth’s Barracuda. It had an 88bhp engine, a close-ratio gearbox, and overdrive as standard.

During 1968 the old Sunbeam Alpine was discontinued (the Tiger had already gone), and the Rapier range was rounded out, first by the H120 of 1969 with twin-carburettor Holbay-tuned engine giving 105bhp and Rostyle wheels, and then by the Alpine, a simplified version of the basic theme introduced for 1970. These three fastback Sunbeam cars were still being made in 1973, along with the Sunbeam Sport based on the Imp saloon. The Stiletto was discontinued during 1972.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com

Vauxhall

GB, 1903 to date

(1) Vauxhall Iron Works Ltd, London, 1903 – 1904

(2) Vauxhall Iron Works Ltd, Luton, Beds., 1905 – 1906

(3) Vauxhall and West Hydraulic Engineering Co Ltd, Luton, Beds., 1906 – 1907

(4) Vauxhall Motors Ltd, Luton, Beds., 1907 to date

This marine engineering concern’s first Vauxhall cars were horizontal-engined single-cylinder runabouts in the American idiom with chain drive and tiller steering, rated at 6hp and the first Vauxhall car was selling for £150. In 1904, when 76 Vauxhall cars were sold, wheel steering and a reverse gear featured in the specification, and the singles were joined by 3-cylinder models Vauxhall cars of 1.4- and 2.4-litres’ capacity, with mechanically-operated inlet valves and vestigial flutes on their bonnets. In 1905 the Vauxhall car works were moved to Luton, and the first attempt at competitions was made with the entry in the Tourist Tophy of a 3-cylinder Vauxhall car with overdrive gearbox. The classic Vauxhall radiator with its flutes appeared on a 3.3-litre T-head 4-cylinder Vauxhall car introduced in 1906. This Vauxhall car was followed by a smaller shaft-drive 12/16, still T-headed, and the Pomeroy-designed L-head 20hp, which gave 40bhp and this Vauxhall car won the 2.000 Mile Trial of 1908. Pomeroy’s 4-cylinder Vauxhall cars were among the classic British designs of the next six years, boasting 5-bearing crankshafts and monobloc engines, and, from 1912, Hele-Shaw multi-plate clutches. In 1910 the first of the Prince Henry Vauxhall cars with 3-litre engine won its spurs in the German Trials of that name: these round-nose sporting Vauxhall cars later grew up into 4-litres’ with 70bhp, capable of 75mph and this Vauxhall car was selling for only £615 in 1913. The Vauxhall car company’s bread-and-butter car was the smaller and staider A-type on similar lines, joined in 1913 by a 4-litre D-type Vauxhall car with close affinities to the Prince Henry Vauxhall cars, while the B-type, a 6-cylinder formal Vauxhall carriage with its cylinders cast in threes, was made in small numbers from 1910 onwards. A Linley preselective gearbox was listed as an option on Vauxhall cars in 1911, in which year Vauxhall cars started racing in earnest. Already a 3-litre Vauxhall car with single-seater streamlined bodywork had recorded 100.08mph over the flying kilometer, and Vauxhall cars were entered for the Coupe de l’Auto voiturette races of 1911, 1912 an 1913. These Vauxhall cars were followed by twin-ohc designs in 1914 for the French Grand Prix and the Tourist Trophy. The GP models Vauxhall cars with 4½-litre engines developed 130bhp. The prototype of Vauxhall cars best known sporting model, the Vauxhall 30/98, appeared in 1913. The capacity of the Vauxhall car was 4½-litres and it was listed at £925 in 1915, though only 13 Vauxhall 30/98 cars were made before the outbreak of World War 1.

D-types Vauxhall car were made at the rate of eight a week for the Fighting Services during the war years, and both this model Vauxhall car and the E-type Vauxhall 30/98 were available again in 1919 with full electrical equipment. The latter Vauxhall carwas one of the greatest of all fast tourers, this Vauxhall car was offering superb flexibility and a top speed of over 80mph for £1.600, though brakes were never its strong suit. 1922 saw Vauxhall, like Sunbeam, offering a smaller and cheaper Vauxhall car, the 2.3-litre M-type 14/40 Vauxhall car with detachable head, 3-speed unit gearbox in place of the 4-speed separate type on the big Vauxhall cars, single-plate clutch and all brakes on the rear wheels (supplanting a foot transmission brake), at £750. The last serious competition Vauxhall cars were a team of 3-litre twin ohc machines for the 1922 Tourist Trophy, which Vauxhall cars had 110bhp and air-pressure operated brakes, but could manage no better than a 3rd place. Both the D- and E-types Vauxhall cars acquired overhead valves in the summer of 1922, the later emerging as the 120bhp OE which had 4-wheel brakes of rather dubious efficacy by 1923. Capacity of the engine was now 4.2-litres. Vauxhall sold 1.400 Vauxhall cars in 1924. 1925 Vauxhall 14/40hp models had 4 forward speeds, but finances were uncertain, and the Vauxhall car company was bought by General Motors in December of that year. 1926 Vauxhall cars were still on traditional lines, the Vauxhall 14/40 acquiring front wheel brakes, and being supplemented by a new luxury 6-cylinder Vauxhall car, the S-type with 3.9-litre single-sleeve valve engine and hydraulic brakes at £1.250. The Vauxhall 30/98 survived into 1927, also now with hydraulics: only about 600 of both types Vauxhall cars, the E and OE were made, and three-fifths of these Vauxhall cars were exported to Australia. The Vauxhall 14/40 in its last year could be had with a Wilson preselective gearbox. The first GM Vauxhall car was introduced for 1928: this Vauxhall car was a rather American-looking 20/60hp ohv six with coil-ignition and central change, but the Vauxhall car was still with a 4-speed box, at £475. This R-type Vauxhall car was steadily increased in capacity, ending its production run as the 3.3-litre T80 in 1932. A really inexpensive Vauxhall Six, the 2-litre Cadet at £280, was offered in 1931, in which year a range of Chevrolet-based Bedford trucks helped to boost Vauxhall Motors’ overall sales. The Vauxhall Cadet pioneered synchromesh in Britain in 1932, a few months ahead of Rolls-Royce, but the need for smaller horsepower cars resulted in the introduction of a couple of light sixes Vauxhall cars of 12 and 14hp in the summer of 1933. These Vauxhall cars and their companion 2.4-litre and 3.2-litre Big Sixes of 1934 had Fisher no-draught ventilation, but boasted 4-forward speeds in place of the Cadet’s 3. Prices of the smaller Vauxhall cars started at £195, and in 1935, in which year a record 25.000 Vauxhall cars were sold, they also had General Motors’ ‘knee action’ independent front suspension. In 1937 the Big Six Vauxhall car gave way to a 3.2-litre, 80bhp 25 with independent front-suspension and hydraulic brakes, selling for £298, and also available in long-chassis limousine form. All 1937 Vauxhall cars had stylized grilles in place of radiators, with headlamps attached to the shell, though the flutes survived until 1962. In 1938 came the 1.2-litre Vauxhall Ten with 3-speed gearbox and unitary construction, also made as a coupé with separate chassis, while the 25 Vauxhall car now had a 3-speed box as well. Hydraulic brakes were standard on all Vauxhall cars in 1939, in which year the 12/60 Vauxhall car gave way to a unitary-construction 3-speed 4-cylinder Vauxhall car at £189, and the 14 also went over to unitary construction.

With the discontinuation of the Vauxhall 25 after World War 2, Vauxhall cars with separate chassis were no longer made for the home market, though certain export versions Vauxhall cars were thus made until 1954. Post-war production of Vauxhall cars started with revised editions of the 1940 model Vauxhall Ten, Vauxhall Twelve, and Vauxhall Fourteen, but in 1948 a new model Vauxhall car with bigger boot, a standardized hull, and steering-column change was introduced, with a choice of two long-stroke ohv engines – the Vauxhall Velox had a 54bhp 2.3-litre 6-cylinder unit, and the Wyvern the old 35bhp Twelve Vauxhall car of 1.4-litres’ capacity. Lowered and restyled versions Vauxhall cars with hypoid back axles were introduced for 1952, short-stroke engines replacing the earlier type during the season. These Vauxhall cars were in production until 1957 with relatively little change, though a de luxe 6-cylinder edition, the Vauxhall Cresta, appeared in 1955. A very American 1½-litre Vauxhall car saloon, the Vauxhall Victor, with Chevrolet-like wrap-around windscreen and 3-speed all-synchromesh gearbox, was announced in 1957 at £729, and the 6-cylinder Vauxhall car received similar treatment in 1958. Though the styling of these Vauxhall cars was critically received, this was a record year for the Vauxhall car company, with 114.177 Vauxhall cars sold. Overdrive was an option on the 1959 6-cylinder line Vauxhall cars, followed by automatic in 1960, while the flutes were gone from the 1962 Vauxhall Victor, a better-looking Vauxhall car with a 56bhp engine, and the choice of a 3- or 4-speed box. A faster twin-carburettor 71bhp version, the VX 4/90, had front disc brakes. The Vauxhall Velox and Vauxhall Cresta were restyled on similar lines in 1963, also with discs at the front, and power of the Vauxhall car was increased in 1965, Vauxhall Victors having 1.6-litres and 70bhp, and the 6-cylinder engines being enlarged to 3.3-litres. 1964 produced a new small Vauxhall car, the 1.057cc Vauxhall Viva which was almost identical with the German Opel Kadett. The Vauxhall car sold for £566, but by 1967 had been replaced by the more attractive 1.159cc HB series Vauxhall car, with such options as a 69bhp SL model and automatic transmission. The van-based Beford Beagle estate Vauxhall car, however, retained the original HA shape into 1973. In 1966 there was a prestige version of the Vauxhall Cresta, the Vauxhall Viscount at £1.483, on which automatic transmission, power windows and a vinyl roof were standard.

A new phase in Vauxhall car design was heralded in 1968 by an all-new Vauxhall Victor. The 4-cylinder engines of the Vauxhall car, of 1.599cc and 1.975cc, had 5-bearing crankshafts and belt-driven ohc, and also featured were 4-speed gearboxes, rack-and-pinion steering, and all-coil suspension with rigid axles at the rear. The costliest estate-car version used the 3.3-litre 6-cylinder engine, as did a new sports-compact introduced during the year, the Vauxhall Ventora saloon. Next to appear was a Vauxhall Viva GT, combining a Viva hull with 2-litre Victor mehcanics and, in 1970, an updated version of the sporting VX 4/90. In 1971 came Vauxhall cars answer to the best-selling Ford Capri, the Vauxhall Firenza coupé with front disc brakes and a choice of Viva or Victor engine. The former unit of the Vauxhall car was enlarged to 1.256cc for 1972, and in the spring of that year came new, more elegant Vauxhall Victors and Vauxhall Ventoras, the fours now having 1.8-litre or 2.3-litre engines. Twin-carburettor editions of the latter now developed 122bhp. They were fitted to the Sport SL Firenza Vauxhall car as well as to the VX 4/90, which came with overdrive as standard and to the fiercest of the Viva family, retailing for £1.218 in 2-door saloon form. Top of the range of Vauxhall cars was now the Ventora. The Cresta and Viscount, unchanged since 1966, disappeared in September 1972. Viva mechanical elements were used in the Grumett, a Uruguayan coupé-utility in the Australian-Japanese idiom, and also in a new light truck evolved in 1972 by the parent General Motors for sale in emergent countries. In 1972 Vauxhall car of the Viva/ Firenza range with 2-litre ohc engines were sold under the name Pontiac Firenza by General Motors of Canada.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS   

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com